Guy Stuart
Afternoon light at the refinery 2020
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Guy Stuart
Afternoon light at the refinery 2020
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Reproduced courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne


Guy Stuart


Guy Stuart
Australian, born 1942; lives and works in Geelong

Afternoon light at the refinery 2020
synthetic polymer paint on canvas
Courtesy of the artist and Charles Nodrum Gallery, Melbourne

Artist statement:

I have lived in Geelong for six years now and last year I decided to paint some of the industrial subjects of the city. This painting is an aspect of the Viva Energy refinery.

The central subject is the engineered forest that rises steeply towards us, supporting three elevated pipes that take fuel from the refinery to the harbour facilities nearby. The illusion of a steep incline is a case of diminishing perspective, on a large scale.

I stand outside the boundary of the refinery, on the other side of the road, with my back to Corio Bay. It is late afternoon and the complexity of all that industry and purpose is now becoming unified in silhouette, against an active sky, giving it all a strange beauty. The yellow border isolates the image in space. Something complex and memorable has now become a painting hanging on the wall.